Put my Stilo 1.9 JTD in for a 36K service at a Fiat dealership close to
where I work. When I collected the car they handed over my receipt and a
list of operations carried out on which they ticked the relevant boxes for a
36K service.

Later that night I noticed that the brake fluid change box wasn't ticked
despite this being a requirement in the service schedule. Next morning I
checked a few other simple things such as screen wash (not topped up but
charged £2.50 for it) and door hinges (had not been lubricated). When I got
to work I rang the service manager and explained that I was unhappy with the
service and extremely concerned that a number of items had been missed. He
promised to deal with it that day and called me back 20 minutes later after
speaking to the mechanic who did (or didn't do) the work; the service
manager explained that the mechanic had forgotten the screen wash but had
changed the brake fluid.

To ensure I was completely happy he offered to check the car over personally
if I took it in. That wasn't practical so he then offered to bring the
mechanic with him to see me at work. I went out to the car 5 minutes before
they arrived armed with a torch and had a quick look at the rear calipers;
no sign of a spanner removing road grime from the bleed nipple and no signs
of fluid on the caliper suggested it was unlikely the brake fluid had been
changed.

When they arrived the mechanic apologised for forgetting the screen wash but
said he had changed the fluid. I then challenged as to why the fluid
reservoir was only half full for which he provided a valid explanation. I
then asked why there were no signs that the N/S rear caliper bleed nipple
had been undone to which he explained that it was seized and he had undone
the flexible hose in order to bleed the brakes. H then told me that all the
other calipers had been bled through the bleed nipple. So I showed him the
O/S rear caliper at which point he went 'oh' and his manager just looked at
the floor.

Mechanic then continued to dig a hole by saying that they were both seized
(contrary to what he said 1 minnute ago!) at which point I explained the car
was under 2 years old and was still in warrranty and this should be
rectified and not ignored. He then explained that when siezed they
sometimes snap when an attempt is made to remove them; again I explained
that the car was still under warranty and if the brakes were not servicable
then something wasn't right.

They then took the car back to the garage and returned it 5 hours later,
with new bleed nipples, signs that the fluid had been changed and even
valeted the car for me. The car was far more responsvie (so I guess they
changed the air filter on the 2nd attempt). I guess some people would just
hand the money over and assume that the work was done.

Credit to the service manager as he wanted to put things right and wasn't
happy that he was paying somebody to do a job and it wasn't being done to
the right standard.

Andy

The message <11jrqajjjjklg14 (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com>
from "Andrew" <andrewportess (AT) nospamhotmail (DOT) com> contains these words:

Since the purpose of changing the brake fluid is to remove the possibly
(usualy) contaminated fluid from the pistons, doing it by removing the
hose isn't going to acheive the desired result anyway.

--
Skipweasel.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was Aardvark.

"Guy King" <guy.king (AT) zetnet (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Surely bleeding by taking the pipe off is just going to leave some air in
the system, what a load of bollox!

The message <NHr%e.4493$O%.1729 (AT) newsfe1-gui (DOT) ntli.net>
from "Dave Griffs" <dr.clayton(no spam)@talk21.com> contains these words:

Not necessarily. I've done it successfully before now. A handy trick
which I've used for years when bleeding rear brakes after a cylinder
change is to clamp the hose, change the bits, then open the tap and just
let the fluid flow out on its own. Takes a few minutes and sometimes you
have to squeeze the pistons in and out to help it along, so it's best
done before you refit the shoes.
The main advantage apart from simplicity is that you don't push the
master cylinder piston over the unused bit at the end and damage the
seals.

--
Skipweasel.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was Aardvark.

I`d be tempted to make sure Fiat UK know about it ! (and the
"satisfactory" resolution of course), and trading standards.

It`d be a real shame if they were forced to recall and reservice
every car they`d done for, say, the last 6 months...

--
Please add the word "newsgroup" in the subject line of personal emails
**** My email address includes "ngspamtrap" and "@btinternet.com" ****

Colin Wilson <void (AT) btinternet (DOT) com> wrote:

LOL, when you phone Fiat customer support you get through to Italy now,
and they don't give a shit.

I tried on a number of occasions to try and get some help for a
customer, only to end in frustration for both parties.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Civic: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/...tts2/index.htm
(updated Aug 28 2005)

I had a similar experience with Shitroen over a lemon AX, reg. L682TKD

--
Please add the word "newsgroup" in the subject line of personal emails
**** My email address includes "ngspamtrap" and "@btinternet.com" ****

Colin Wilson (void (AT) btinternet (DOT) com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

For a "lemon", that '93 AX10 has only fallen out of use this year... Last
tax disc expired in May 05.

Interesting - I wonder how many more attempts it took to sort out the
brakes... I had it booked into the dealer at least 3 times, and it still
swapped lanes when braking normally. I suspect the Fiat mechanic from
the service cock-up post earlier might have once been Shitroen
trained...

I had a catalogue of problems (in all fairness the majority were
probably dealer inspired), and I got shut after 6 months as the stress
was causing me health problems. It had been back with the dealer a good
few weeks overall by then.

To give you an idea of the competence of the dealer, when the rear
screen shattered at <2 weeks old, forcing the lock open, and the
remaining part of the tailgate to cause damage to the back end of the
car, the dealer thought the wrong shade of touch-up pen was a suitable
repair. The glass that filled the back end of the car stayed there
rattling for the rest of its life with me, because the dealer couldn`t
find a nozzle to fit his vacuum cleaner (and presumably couldn`t be
arsed to remove the trim to sort it properly ! The dealer said it had
been shot at, which would have been quite a feat as I was in a covered
private parking garage and the only vantage point was at least half a
mile away - when I asked to borrow their phone to call the police their
attitude "adjusted" somewhat...

I left about 3 sides of A4 cataloguing the problems hidden in the
manual, whether the "new" owner ever got to see it to get them resolved
I don`t know.

--
Please add the word "newsgroup" in the subject line of personal emails
**** My email address includes "ngspamtrap" and "@btinternet.com" ****

In article <11jrqajjjjklg14 (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com>,
andrewportess (AT) nospamhotmail (DOT) com (Andrew) wrote:

Near Basingstoke, perchance? I've just had a similar scenario with our
motability car...

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981
) *FREE* mobile phone with cashback and free line rental
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